


In Infinite Regress

by HalfshellVenus



Category: New Amsterdam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-25
Updated: 2011-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-28 02:44:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/302867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalfshellVenus/pseuds/HalfshellVenus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With immortality comes an endless cycle of loss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Infinite Regress

**Author's Note:**

  * For [donutsweeper](https://archiveofourown.org/users/donutsweeper/gifts).



> A Yuletide Madness offering.

Omar had been a beautiful baby.

That wasn't surprising—all of John's babies were beautiful. Surely, that wasn't just parental bias talking? Omar's sparkling eyes and round, soft, baby cheeks would have captivated anyone, and he'd been such a happy child, so _smart_.

Corey, Omar's little firecracker of a grandson, was just like him—asking whether John had ever tested his immortality by trying to blow himself up. John doubted whether the boy really understood how they were related, but then, how could he? It didn't really matter, because John knew the truth: when he looked at Corey, he saw the child version of Omar all over again.

The reality was harder to face. Omar was stoop-backed and gray-haired now, old and growing older.

John watched Corey play, remembering Omar and the children before him. It all seemed to fold in on itself, the same cycles, the same heartache. Omar would die, joining John's other children, and John would mourn for the baby, the man, who was no more.

It never got easier.

When that Indian woman saved him, John hadn't realized the extent of what she'd done. He'd wanted to live, of course, but he'd only hoped for healing, for life on human terms.

What he'd received instead had proved to be something that was less of a gift than a burden.

He'd lived so many lifetimes already, loved amazing women and fathered scores of precious children. He'd also lost them, one after another, all victims to the merciless march of time.

John was grateful not to have ended his life back in 1642, felled by the stroke of a sword intended for someone else.

But there were some things no one wanted to survive. Burying your children was one of them.

 

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End file.
